In early February, Zimbabwe broke a 13-match losing sequence by beating Bangladesh,
leaving their record going into the World Cup standing at 15 defeats in
16 matches.
All of those defeats were against Kenya, Bangladesh
and South Africa's second string and included a 5-0 whitewash in Bangladesh
at the end of 2006.
Gone are the days of former skipper heath streak, with his
237 wickets and almost 3,000 runs.
Gone also are Andy Flower and Henry Olonga who
fled their country after the 2003 world cup in fear of their lives after staging
their high-profile "death of democracy" protest aimed at exposing
the brutality of the Mugabe regime.
Zimbabwe has lost roughly the equivalent of an entire team
in the years since the last World Cup. They have also lost their test status
after a series of disputes between cricket Zimbabwe and senior players.
Key players have all been purged from the squad.
Very few of its 15-man squad have proper experience. Only captain
Prosper Utseya and Gary Brent have played more than 50 ODIs.
Sometimes one has an outstanding performance, such as opening
batsman Vusi Sibanda who averaged over 100 in the first three matches against
Bangladesh, boosted by a 93 not out; Elton Chigumbura smashed them for seven
sixes in one innings.
But they are rare bright spots.
Despite the gloom, coach Kevin Curran has faith in his rookies.
"We have a lot of youngsters playing good cricket," said the former
test player.
"We have a pretty sharp front line attack in Anthony Ireland,
Chris Mpofu and Edward Rainsford. And there has been some fine batting performances
lately, notably by Sibanda, Chigumbura and Terrence Duffin. I believe we can
be very competitive all round."
But lurking in the background are the memories of the embarrassing
35 and 38 run totals, both against Sri Lanka only a couple of years ago, and
their 85 against West Indies and 94 against Pakistan.
Only three Zimbabwe batsmen have scored more than 1,000 runs;
the best average is a meagre 28 by Brendan Taylor. Only two bowlers have taken
more than 30 wickets.
In an effort to keep the better Zimbabwe players in the country
after the World Cup, Zimbabwe Cricket is believed to be offering attractive
four-year contracts.
But the players will have to earn them with some tough assignments on the horizon.
"Our warm-up games against Bermuda and Australia are ideal for us because
they are so different," added Curran.
"I expect our lads to beat Bermuda and to be competitive
against Australia.
"I believe that if we had Andy Flower, Heath Streak
and just a couple of others from those earlier days, we could be better overall
today than the Zimbabwe team of that time.
"There's no reason at all why we shouldn't beat Ireland (in their first
group d match). They are on a level with Scotland and Canada. As for West Indies
and Pakistan, these are great sides.
"But they can both be unpredictable and we might just catch one of them
on a bad day.
"Whether we get through to the Super Eight has to be doubtful,
but I think we will leave the World Cup with honour."
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